Be Happy Anyway

From Brave Girls Club

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Kiss Me I'm Irish???

What's a Puerto Rican American girl doing with a blatantly IRISH blog background?

Well, growing up, I spent a lot of time visiting with my mom's sister who loves everything Irish as does my mother, even though they were both born and lived in Puerto Rico the first few years of their lives. This all came from the fact that when they were in grade school, their father put them in a children's home run by Irish Catholic nuns in New York. You can't get any more Irish than that.

The Irish people have certainly known their share of hardship and trials from the Potato Famine of the 1840s which lead to many leaving their homeland in the late 19th Century to come to the United States of America only for many of them to find opportunities here to be not much better. Even until recent times there has been civil unrest between the Nationalists and the Unionists in Northern Ireland. Yet, my mother and her sister love the Irish.

Maybe it's the hardships they, too, endured like losing their mother at a very early age or living for most of grade school in what amounted to be an orphanage. Maybe it was my mother being sent to a posh private school on scholarship without means to fit in such as nice clothes or jewelery or all the other things teenagers find important even in the 1950s. Maybe it was her sister not being allowed to go to the posh school because the nuns didn't like her wild ways and refused to send her, leaving her to get a job in a cleaners picking lint out of people's pockets for a living. The list goes on and on...

Regardless, these two lovely ladies love everything about St. Patrick's Day - from the wearing of the green (even though we are now Protestant) to Corned Beef and Cabbage for dinner (not my favorite fare for sure.) My aunt, who decorates her house for EVERY holiday will hang green "jello-like" shamrock stickies on the front window and make centerpieces out of leprechauns and more shamrocks. When we have our traditional supper, the plates will be green, the napkins will be green, and I bet even the beverages will be green.

My aunt is currently recovering from hip surgery in a rehabilitation center, so this year we may have to bring St. Patrick's Day to her. Knowing her strong constitution, however, that crazy lady will be home in no time and serving up the corned beef and cabbage for all of us.Éirinn go brách!!

Great story! You probably took her KFC for St Patrick's Day and not a stitch to be green! I hope you added a green ribbon just for her! And she'll reward you later with corned beef and cabbage. I've never had that combo!

I LOVE the festive background!! The Sisters layout is beautiful!! Just beautiful!! And I hope you had your traditional dinner, one way or the other! I bet it would have thrilled your aunt to have dinner brought to her!!

Very nice way to celebrate St. Pats. Our heritage is not Irish either but my husbands name is Michael and he was born on St. Pats day. Our daughter is Erin Michelle and she loves loves her name and everything Irish. The blog design is amazing and the new picture of you is very nice! According to Peg we are posting a photo this month, I think a great idea! Have a great week!

About Me

I am a fourth grade teacher. I tend to ramble and a blog seemed like the perfect outlet for it. That way only people who want to hear what I have to say get to listen. You will find that there is no central theme. If you like music, scrapping, art journaling, stories of a mom ready to pull her hair out, you have come to the right place. Welcome to my world.